Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin With Apricot Ginger Glaze

"Prepare the dry rub in advance and store in a cool dry place in an airtight container. The apricot glaze can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated until you are ready to use. Serve this flavorful dish with slaw with vinaigrette, grilled potatoes and seasonal fresh fruit."

Directions

Prior to grilling, melt apricot preserves in saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from the heat and stir in remaining glaze ingredients. Place half of the glaze in a serving bowl and hold for service.

Prepare grill at medium-high heat. Grill pork tenderloins for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) on an instant-read thermometer.

When approximately 4 minutes of cook time remains, brush the pork tenderloins with the apricot glaze remaining in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, turn the pork tenderloins and brush glaze on other side. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove pork from the grill and let set for about 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with reserved glaze.

Most Helpful Positive Review

Mar 16, 2010

This was wonderful! From the husband "pork, my least favorite white meat", to "this is awesome, what meat is this?"..... only change I made was to decrease the chili powder to 3/4 tsp as the hubby dislikes spicy foods and based on other readers reviews, this was the perfect mix. Worked beautifully!!! Thanks so much for this recipe!!~!

Most Helpful Critical Review

This recipe is EXCELLENT! It is a must try! I only cooked one tenderloin (vs two)so I only made half the glaze. (I then divided that glaze into two small bowls and used one for brushing onto the meat and the other to set on the table with dinner for dipping or whatever.) I followed the advice of another reviewer here and baked the tenderloin in the oven at 300 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes, brushed on some glaze, put back in oven for 10 additional minutes, turned tenderloin over and brushed rest of glaze on other side and baked 10 more minutes (total baking time of 1-1/2 hours). I let it set out for 5 minutes before slicing. It seemed to be the longest 5 minutes of our lives. It smelled that good! We LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this recipe! My husband thought it was just a tad too spicy for him so next time I will cut back a bit on the chili powder in the rub. However, I thought it was just perfect! The spicy and sweet flavors complement each other well. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!

Wow! What an incredible grilled pork recipe! I doubled the spice rub for approximately 3 lbs. of pork and rather leaving the tenderloin whole I cut the pork into medallions. I dipped each piece into the rub and then skewered it making kabobs and left it in the fridge for a few hours. I've found it's much easier to cook that way. It's easier to turn and make sure it's cooked evenly not dried out. I kept the amount of glaze the same, but cut the amount of bbq sauce in it by half. I found that you could easily melt the preserves in the microwave and then add the rest of the ingredients. The sweetness of the glaze definitely compliments the spiciness of the grilled pork! This goes great with grilled sweet potatoes. I will definitely make this again!

Note to cookinkiwi - review the recipe again and first see step 2. Divide the glaze so that people can use it at table. Then go to step 4. With 4 minutes to go, brush the meat with the remaining glaze. Spray out any flames, though that shouldn't be a problem with tenderloin since it is lean. The general rule with any sweet sauce (barbecue sauce and others) is to use it briefly near the end of grilling. That's long enough to warm it and bond it to the surface of the meat, making an attractive and tasty coating. Sugar is a molecule containing carbon. Leave it over a grill too long and it burns and turns to black charcoal. Most folks don't like the taste of cinders.

A five-star recipe for sure.
Although the recipe doesn't say when to first put the glaze on the meat, I did it right at the start, and because I didn't want to grill outside in the freezing cold, I pan-seared the meat on the stove, placed it in a baking pan, poured sauce over, and baked until internal temp 160f. was reached.
One other thing - I didn't have apricot preserves so in its stead I used orange marmalade (which is tart so I eliminated the lime juice). This was so moist and tasty, bit of a bite, served with oven baked fries and Amish Cole Slaw - a great meal.

Fantastic recipe. My tenderloins were closer to a pound and a half so i made a little extra rub. I used a homemade ancho chili powder, which is more flavorful than the store-bought chili powders which have other spices mixed with the chili. I opted for cooking inside after letting the rub sit on for about 3 hours. I tied both tenderloins together with butchers twine, seared it on all sides on a grill pan, and put it in a 325F oven until multiple thermometers read 155, then added the glaze. For the glaze, i cut the bbq sauce in half, used fresh garlic along with the fresh ginger, and extra hot sauce (cholula). The cilantro was a nice addition. Kudos to the author of the recipe!

This was delicious. The only thing that I would do differently (and I will make this again) would be to reduce the amount of barbecue sauce in order to let the apricot flavor come through a little bit stronger. I would also reduce the amount of glaze by half. I used it to glaze while grilling and also as a sauce for dipping and I still had to much. This was excellent and it would be great for company.

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

(-)Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.